MÖTLEY CRÜE's Manager On 'The Final Tour': 'This Is A Spectacular Way To End A 33–Year Career'

Pollstar recently spoke to Tenth Street Entertainment president Chris Nilsson about MÖTLEY CRÜE's final tour, the movie version of the band's autobiography "The Dirt" and what it's like to manage one of rock's most notorious bands. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Pollstar: As the band's manager, what was your reaction when the members of MÖTLEY CRÜE said they wanted to do one final tour?

Nilsson: It was a group decision. They had been talking about it for some time. To be honest, I can't even tell you how long. I respect their decision, I support their decision. Their reasons for their decision are good reasons. They've always been a band with integrity. I think maintaining their integrity is important to them, as a group and their legacy. It was one of those things where they had the full support of us as managers.

Pollstar: Rock history is filled with volatile breakups, band dissent and conflicting egos. From a manager's perspective, is this one of the smoothest exits from touring?

Nilsson: This band has done things differently. Everything that they do is special. Their decision wasn't based on internal strife. Their decision was based on something positive, which is they want to preserve the legacy of MÖTLEY CRÜE. … They collectively think it's time to do this. It's not the decision of one member or two members. It's a mutual decision. … I certainly think this is a spectacular way to end a 33–year career. I think it's spectacular in the sense that because it's a mutual decision and because they are at the top of their game, they can in the next two years create something for the fans that's worthy of the fans' dollars.

Pollstar: Was age one of the factors? Did bandmembers not want to see MÖTLEY CRÜE performing when they're way into their senior citizen years?

Nilsson: I don't think so. This band is not one to point at other bands and say, "You guys aren't doing it the right way." I think it's right for this band. I don't necessarily think age is a contributing factor because these guys are all creative in their own right. They all have other things that they do. I think they will all continue to be creative. But I'm not in the band. I can't really say. There's a myriad of reasons for a decision like this but it's certainly not because they don't feel they can't get up on stage any more. To the contrary — they're as good a band as they've ever been. All I can say from somebody who gets to witness the band play, even though they've been doing this for 33 years and they're not a new band, they still put on as good a show as I've ever seen them do and probably as good as they ever have in their career. They may have speculated into the future, but … I can't answer that. [Age] certainly isn't affecting their show as it stands today.

Pollstar: Is MÖTLEY CRÜE a tough band to manage?

Nilsson: I don't think any band is easy to manage. It's a hard business. Like any corporation with a number of members, there is always going to be interests that conflict. Each band is unique onto itself. MÖTLEY CRÜE has its own issues. They've been well documented. I think if they were a really difficult band to manage, they wouldn't put on the kind of show they put on, they wouldn't make announcements like they just made, and they wouldn't be here 33 years later. Something's going on that's right. … I can say this — they were probably more difficult when they were in their 20s.

Read the entire interview at Pollstar.